I recently did Crista’s “Fire it Up!” class in which she started the practice doing Kapalbhati in chair pose and then immediately went into a forward fold.
My question / problem is that when I went into the deep forward fold I had a very uncomfortable feeling in my nose - almost like when you get water in your nose while swimming and it goes deep up into the sinuses. I had to pause the video and step off the mat to try to clear out the nose and for the rest of the day and evening I had the strangest, rather uncomfortable burning sensation in my nose.
I’ve never done Kapalbhati followed by forward fold in that way before, so I’m not sure if I shouldn’t have gone into such a deep forward fold or if I possibly did something else wrong.
Has anyone else ever had this happen? I didn’t have a stuffed up nose or any other sign of being sick, but maybe I had some sinus pressure that I didn’t know about?
I would love some feedback, as I’ve been diving into more Pranayama work with my practice but I’m feeling a bit hesitant after that
Hi! I’m sorry you experienced this. Having allergy and sinus problems myself for the past several years, it does sound like a sinus issue, but I would recommend seeing your regular practitioner about it. That’s an odd and painful thing to experience. I hope it won’t happen again!
Hello[quote=“krystle.radtke, post:1, topic:1468, full:true”]
I recently did Crista’s “Fire it Up!” class in which she started the practice doing Kapalbhati in chair pose and then immediately went into a forward fold.
My question / problem is that when I went into the deep forward fold I had a very uncomfortable feeling in my nose - almost like when you get water in your nose while swimming and it goes deep up into the sinuses. I had to pause the video and step off the mat to try to clear out the nose and for the rest of the day and evening I had the strangest, rather uncomfortable burning sensation in my nose.
I’ve never done Kapalbhati followed by forward fold in that way before, so I’m not sure if I shouldn’t have gone into such a deep forward fold or if I possibly did something else wrong.
Has anyone else ever had this happen? I didn’t have a stuffed up nose or any other sign of being sick, but maybe I had some sinus pressure that I didn’t know about?
I would love some feedback, as I’ve been diving into more Pranayama work with my practice but I’m feeling a bit hesitant after that
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, I slso have never done a forward fold after Kapalabhati.
….so I hope you are feeling better.
Since it is a very vigorous breath, my suggestion would be NOT to do it in the evening at all and not a forward fold immediately after. The energies need time to settle.
I am sure the will settle again in your case as well.
All the best
Damara
Thanks! I always practice in the evening while my husband puts our two little ones to bed and does the dishes, so I didn’t even consider that when choosing the class. I will happily keep that Pranayama type for future morning classes though!
I think what happened for me is that I was likely a bit sick without even realizing it (my almost 2 year old and 3.5 year old have been swapping various sicknesses for the last few weeks so I’ve surely been getting a bit of what they had).
It’s a good reminder to be more careful with some of the Pranayamas, thanks! I’ve been wanting to dive deeper into that part of the practice and haven’t done as much reading / research into it I suppose.
Regarding not doing forward fold ever after doing the breath : I guess I would wonder why Crista planned the class that way if it should never be done. Do any other teachers have some feedback about a flow doing that? Or dans Crista herself chime in?
Thank you for sharing this experience! It is a good reminder that powerful pranayama, really does have the ability to shift things both energetically and physically. The experience you had was similar to getting water up your nose because you did get water up your nose! The breathwork loosened some liquid in your sinuses then going upside down sent it the wrong way.
It would doing a forward fold right after that breath work may not be helpful for those feeling that sensation in the nose, and I also agree I only do that energizing breath in the morning or mid day.
